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Universal Extractor 1.4.2 Released

Submitted by jbreland on Tue, 11/28/2006 - 19:59

I just posted Universal Extractor 1.4.2. This version has a lot of improvements, including a fix for the crash issue in 1.4.1. Highlights include:

  • Full internationalization support for installer
  • New preferences page for installer to set history and debug options introduced in 1.4
  • Four new languages included by default
  • Various bug fixes for Windows 9x

The usual links:

Universal Extractor Download

Universal Extractor ChangeLog

Universal Extractor Feedback

Enjoy!

Inno Setup Scripts Updated

Submitted by jbreland on Tue, 11/28/2006 - 19:32

I made some improvements to the support scripts I use with my Inno Setup installers in the process of readying the Universal Extractor 1.4.2 release.

The biggest improvement was made to the Inno Setup CLI Help script. This script allows end-users to pass /?, /h, or /help to the installer package to get a list of available command line arguments. The new version supports custom parameters as well as the components and tasks lists that were available in the previous version. I also changed the delimiter, so if you use the script in your own installers, please be sure to read the ChangeLog.

I also updated the Modify Path Inno Setup script, but this was purely a documentation update to make it a bit more clear. No functionality changes were made.

Universal Extractor 1.4.1 Update

Submitted by jbreland on Mon, 11/27/2006 - 02:34

As noted in the previous Universal Extractor post, there's an issue that can cause UniExtract to crash under certain circumstances. I've since had time to investigate the issue, and have determined UniExtract will crash anytime the archive is selected via the GUI browse button (the '...' button to the right of the "Archive/Installer to extract" field). This is due to an improper variable declaration that crept in during the 1.4.1 updates.

I've also determined that UniExtract will not crash if one of the other supported methods is used:

  • right-click on file and use UniExtract context-menu integration
  • drag-and-drop file onto UniExtract GUI
  • select previous file from archive history

Of course, this isn't a solution, but it's a workaround for those of you that may have already installed it and are experiencing the issue. It also explains why some users have not reported it, as well as why I missed it during my testing (I generally test using the three methods above, which are faster for me than using the browse button).

I had planned on releasing 1.4.2 quickly to fix the issue, but there are some additional improvements that I want to make in 1.4.2 as well that's taking longer than I had anticipated to get working correctly. So, in the meantime I'm making available a "patch" (for lack of a better term) to fix the issue for current 1.4.1 users. You can download an updated version of the UniExtract.exe binary from here:

Edit: Removed download link. Please use UniExtract 1.4.2 instead.

Replace the copy of UniExtract.exe in your existing install with this new version, then use as you normally would. I should have a proper 1.4.2 release out within the next day or so, so unless you're currently affected by the crash issue, you may want to just hold off until then before upgrading.

Universal Extractor 1.4.1 Released

Submitted by jbreland on Tue, 11/21/2006 - 20:32

Update: 11/26/2006
Please see this post for additional information.

Update: 11/22/2006
A few people have reported an issue with version 1.4.1 that prevents it from extracting any archives. I recommend that you do not upgrade to version 1.4.1 at this time. It may be a few days before I'm able to fix the problem and release a new version, so please continue to use 1.4 or 1.3.1 for now. I'll post another note once I've had a chance to fully investigate.

As hinted at in the 1.4 release post, some bugs and other issues related to internationalization support were found rather quickly. Functionally 1.4 should work fine, but there were some display issues, etc. that needed to be tweaked. So, I'm releasing 1.4.1 as a quick bugfix release to address these problems. I included translation files for Chinese (Simplified), French, and German with this release. Any contributed language files that I receive after this release will be posted to the main Universal Extract page for download, and they'll also be included in future versions.

Universal Extractor Download
Universal Extractor ChangeLog
Universal Extractor Feedback

Universal Extractor 1.4 Released

Submitted by jbreland on Sat, 11/18/2006 - 18:39

I just posted Universal Extractor 1.4. The two primary goals of this release are to make it more "portable" (making the history tracking optional, allowing the user to specify where the debugging file is written, etc.) and to add support for internationalization. I also added a few tweaks and fixed a few bugs to try to speed up installer extraction.

Warning: Adding support for internationalization required a substantial number of changes to the code, which may have introduced some new bugs. If 1.3.1 is working fine for you, it may be a good idea to stick with it for a little while until 1.4 is more thoroughly tested. If, however, you are a not a native English speaker, typically run applications from a portable USB drive, or just live for bleeding-edge software, then I do recommend upgrading to 1.4.

Anyone interested in translating UniExtract to another language should follow the instructions in English.ini. If you do this, please send me the completed translation file so I can include it in the next version of UniExtract (as well as probably make it available for download directly from my site). This way everyone can benefit from your work.

The usual links:
Universal Extractor Download
Universal Extractor ChangeLog
Universal Extractor Feedback

New Website in Progress

Submitted by jbreland on Sun, 11/05/2006 - 03:04

By the way (since I'm actually posting some news right now), I wanted to mention that I'm currently working on an overhaul of LegRoom.net. This current version has served me well for about 2 years now, but it's starting to show its age.

I hope to have the new site ready sometime within the next month. Porting over all of the content is going to take quite a while, but I've already started making some progress. Once I get farther along (and make a final decision on which CMS I'm going to use), I'll post a preview link for some feedback before it goes live.

In the meantime, if I don't seem to be posting very often, just know that it's because I'm hard at work on LegRoom v3 (and other projects). :-)

AutoFLAC version 1.2 Released

Submitted by jbreland on Mon, 10/16/2006 - 01:09

Get it while it's hot! This is a pretty substantial update over the previous version, adding a few oft-requested features and fixing some bugs that had been overlooked in the past. The main highlights are support for variable naming schemes, a new write-mode GUI, improved support for those who only use AutoFLAC for writing, and several bug fixes. Any current AutoFLAC users should upgrade to the new version as soon as possible.

Download links and additional information are available on the AutoFLAC home page. Detailed changes are available in the AutoFLAC ChangeLog.

Universal Extractor 1.3.1 Released

Submitted by jbreland on Wed, 09/27/2006 - 22:19

I just updated Universal Extractor to version 1.3.1. This is primarily a bugfix release for version 1.3, focusing on improved 7-zip support, improved "default" checks for unknown .exe files, and Windows 9x compatability. I also made a few other small tweaks and fixes. As usual, full details can be found in the ChangeLog.

Version 1.3.1 can be download from the main Universal Extractor home page.

Updated Version of Modify Path Released

Submitted by jbreland on Wed, 09/27/2006 - 22:09

I just updated my Modify Path (ModPath) Inno Setup script. This is a small bugfix release that forces Inno Setup to prompt to restart if ModPath() is applied on a Windows 9x system.

If you're an Inno Setup developer, you may want to take a look. I also have a standalone script written in AutoIt that can do the same thing from the Windows command line for anyone else that may need this functionality.

LegRoom.net Photo Gallery Working Again

Submitted by jbreland on Mon, 09/25/2006 - 16:36

... mostly. The Photo Gallery has been down for quite some time now, due to an unintended upgrade of the backend software that made it incompatible with my website. It's taken a while, but I finally got the new version up and running, and I've imported all of the existing photos into the new gallery.

The problem, however, is that integration with the rest of the website is still not available. So, if you click on the Photo Gallery link, you'll be taken to a separate, standalone page to view the gallery.

I'm planning a rather thorough overhaul of LegRoom.net in the near future, so this lack-of-integration will probably remain until then. Hopefully it won't be too much of an inconvenience.

If you find any problems, please let me know.